Review – The Lies Among Us by Sarah Beth Durst
Synopsis
From the award-winning author of The Shelterlings and The Lake House comes a haunting novel about sisterhood and grief, where difficult truths must contend with the corrosive power of unchecked lies. After her mother dies, Hannah doesn’t know how to exist without her. Literally. In fact, Hannah’s not even certain that she does exist. No one seems to see or hear her, and she finds herself utterly alone. Grief-stricken and confused, her sense of self slowly slipping away, Hannah sets out to find new purpose in life―and answers about who (and what) she really is. Hannah’s only remaining family is her older sister, Leah. Yet even Leah doesn’t seem to notice her. And while Hannah can see and hear her sister, she also sees beautiful and terrible things that don’t―or shouldn’t―exist. She learns there’s much more to this world than meets the eye and struggles to make sense of it all. When Hannah sees Leah taking the same dangerous path that consumed their own mother―where lies supplant reality―she’s desperate to get through to her. But facing difficult truths is harder than it looks…
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Review
This is the first book I have read by this author, and it is quite an intriguing tale. It is told from the POV of two sisters, Hannah and Leah, and their perspective on the world. Their perspective is very different because Hannah is not alive. You don’t learn this from page one, but very quickly. But not knowing this makes the intro chapter very odd…why is someone in a casket with their mother, and why doesn’t anyone get her out?
The premise of the book is interesting: is there another world out there made up of our lies? That people, objects, and animals have been created by the stories we tell others?
I enjoyed seeing the world through the two sisters. It gives a perspective that I might not have considered. I don’t know if I prefer one over the other, but both are unique. Leah is real and trying to figure out her life now that she is alone. There are struggles for her based on all of the lies her mother told, and becoming the woman she can be if she only gives herself a chance.
You do have to suspend belief while Hannah is telling her story. But it is intriguing and did have me pondering different possibilities.
This book is probably not for everyone, but if you enjoy magical realism and family, you might enjoy this one.
We give it 3 paws up.
About the Author
Sarah Beth Durst is the author of over twenty-five books for adults, teens, and kids, including The Bone Maker, The Lake House, and Spark. She won an American Library Association Alex Award and a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award and has been a finalist for the Andre Norton Nebula Award three times. Several of her books have been optioned for film/television, including Drink, Slay, Love, which was made into a TV movie and was a question on Jeopardy! Sarah is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Stony Brook, New York, with her husband, her two children, and her ill-mannered cat.
